PH GDP slowed to 6.4% in Q1 of 2017

Amid recovery in the agriculture sector, robust trade and manufacturing growth as well as sustained strong domestic demand, the Philippine economy expanded 6.4 percent year-on-year in the first quarter, the government reported Thursday.

The figure, however, was below previous forecasts of economic managers placing it 6.9-7 percent.

The first-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) growth was slower than the 6.6-percent expansion during the fourth quarter of last year.

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It was also slower than the 6.9 percent posted in the first quarter of 2016, during which economic growth was boosted by election-related spending.

For 2017, the government targets 6.5-7.5 percent GDP growth, following last year’s 6.9-percent expansion.

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